India, Aug. 22 -- Alam Ara, the first Indian feature film with sound, produced and directed by Ardeshir Irani, was released on March 14, 1931. In the following decades, feature films became one of forces that bind India together. But there are concerns that the number of Indians watching films in cinema theatres is fast declining.

A combination of factors has contributed to the current state of despair, especially in Bollywood. The rise of social media, more than a decade earlier, and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram turning into public squares, served the greater good initially, but quickly turned into toxic carriers and amplifiers of misinformation and targeted attacks. The immense reach of social media platforms - also encrypted mobil...